System and method for delivering inline interactive objects encapsulated in a message

ABSTRACT

A system and method for delivering text, media, and inline interactive data (called message content) encapsulated in a message-based conversation has been devised. Content of multiple types are rendered and manipulated using interactive program code objects, downloaded when first needed from a repository, present on the message device. Inline interactive data can be shared and manipulated by participants in a message conversation as part of and in context with the ongoing conversation. Sharing and data integrity of the inline interactive data as well as conversation participant authentication, privileges and conversation security is managed by a central message server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of, and priority to, U.S.provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/133,269, titled “System andMethod for Delivering Text, Media, and Inline Interactive ObjectsEncapsulated in a Message and Messaging Application to a Mobile or OtherDevices” and filed on Mar. 13, 2015, the entire specification of whichis incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The current invention is in the field of instant messaging, morespecifically instant messaging augmented by a plurality inlineinteractive objects that provide capabilities far beyond those found inordinary messaging applications without the user having to leave themessage application.

Discussion of the State of the Art

On the Internet, including the World Wide Web (the Web), content isstored on servers and usually accessed by a client application such as abrowser running on a mobile or fixed device. Advances in wirelesscommunication technology have led to a convergence of sorts, as nowwireless subscribers can access and receive web content via a mobiledevice such as a cell phone. Wireless web access is typicallyaccomplished using a specialized browser like application on the mobiledevice. The subscriber must subscribe to web services through a wirelessservice carrier such as a wireless phone company, or be connected to theInternet by either a wired or wireless connection.

Currently, content is delivered to the user by any of various means,including, but not limited to, a web browser, a messaging client, emailclients, a specialized mobile application specific to the task ofinterest. This paradigm now extends to digital wearables such as theApple Watch or Pebble devices. If the user requires client-sideprogramming—commonly called a web application—said programming oftenconsists of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript delivered to a web browser forlocal execution and supported by server-side Web services. The othertypical option for client-side programming is to for a developer tocreate a custom client-side application for a given interaction. In thepast, companies have created applications that can be embedded in emailsand directly executed, one such product went by the trade name ofZaplets, which ran on non-mobile devices. Email, being an asynchronousform of electronic communication, is fundamentally different from“instant” messaging, which is a synchronous form of communication.

All current messaging options suffer from a fundamental weakness: theuser does not have a seamless experience where an application and aconversation that employs the application exist within one user space. Aconversation is, instead, typically a linear stream of text messages,photos, videos, and possibly other simple assets. To utilize any morecomplicated applications or capabilities, the user is instead requiredjump from one application to another external to the messagingconversation and is unable to easily share and interact with other userson the same task.

What is needed is a system and method for the creation, embedding, anduse of application programs in the conversation contained in a messagingapplication (a synchronous communication method vs. an asynchronouscommunication such as email), creating a new generation of flexiblecomputing platform on which robust and complete user experiences andsolutions can be created to solve many problems in many differentdomains by any party, much like a computer operating system enablesother programs to be installed and run. To date, the solution to theseproblems has been to either add fixed widgets to the messagingapplication's conversation or to rely on external disconnectedapplications outside of the messaging application to create a solution.This solution brings the application programs directly into and in thecontext of the conversation, creating a seamless solution. From theuser's perspective, a conversation becomes a linear stream of textmessages, photos, videos, and other assets with the addition of inlineinteractive objects that may look and act like individual applicationsbut are, in fact, an integral part of the conversation and communicatewith identical or similar applications on the devices of otherparticipants in the messaging conversation so that all see the sameinformation in the same context in real time and can interact with thatinformation. In essence, a new custom engine to communicate and/or solvea problem is created by each new conversation as the members of thatconversation discuss a problem, share information in an unstructuredform, add appropriate inline interactive objects to share andcollaborate on mutually managed, structured information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system fordelivery of text, media and inline interactive objects encapsulated in amessage the system comprising: a message server stored in a memory ofand operating on a processor of a computing device, an inlineinteraction object repository stored in a memory of and operating on aprocessor of a computing device and a plurality of message deliverydevices stored in memories of and operating on processors of at leasttwo computing devices. The message server serves as a hub through whicha plurality of messages pass, receives messages at least one of whichwill contain content requiring the use of an inline interactive objectto display or manipulate determines from a target message deliverydevice whether that target device has inline interactive objects neededto render and manipulate inline objects included in an incoming messageand offers a method to procure any needed inline interactive objects torender or manipulate inline data encapsulated within the incomingmessage. The inline interaction object repository maintains copies ofinline interactive objects available for download. Finally, the messagedelivery devices accept messages some of which may have encapsulatedinteractive data, run inline interactive object resources needed torender and manipulate encapsulated content within an message, and allowsuser to initiate a new message conversation with other users using anidentification for that other user.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention a method fordelivery of text, media and inline interactive objects encapsulated inan message the steps of the method comprising: (a) receiving an messageat a message server containing additional inline media and data thatrequires the use of inline interactive programming objects to render andmanipulate; (b) confirming that a first message delivery device about toreceive the message has required to render and manipulate the additionalinline media and data, if not sending an alert offering to assist inprocurement of needed inline interactive programming objects; (c)allowing the first message delivery device to enter an interactiveconversation with one or more second message delivery devices tointeract as a group with the additional inline media and data whileconcurrently communicating with additional messages, some of whichencapsulate novel additional inline media and data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawings illustrate several embodiments of theinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention according to the embodiments. One skilled inthe art will recognize that the particular embodiments illustrated inthe drawings are merely exemplary, and are not intended to limit thescope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a computer system as currently may be typically used as ageneric computing device for an end user device, both stationary and orportable, or a server.

FIG. 2 depicts an overview of an exemplary system embodiment depicted asa set of network connected devices interacting with a consumer deviceengineered to interact with the invention.

FIG. 3 shows an overview of the architecture of an exemplary systemaccording to the system and method disclosed herein.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary screen of a smartphone engaged in aconversation, according to one aspect of the system and method disclosedherein.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary screen of a smartphone displaying a dateobject, according to one aspect of the system and method disclosedherein.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary process for implementation of the systemaccording to one aspect of the system and method disclosed herein.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram depicting an exemplary computing devicesuitable for implementing at least a portion of the features orfunctionalities disclosed herein

FIG. 8 is a block diagram depicting a typical exemplary architecture ofone or more embodiments or components thereof on a standalone computingsystem.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram depicting an exemplary architecture forimplementing at least a portion of a system according to an embodimentof the invention on a distributed computing network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventor has conceived, and reduced to practice, a system and methodfor embedding inline interactive object into message conversations.

One or more different inventions may be described in the presentapplication. Further, for one or more of the inventions describedherein, numerous alternative embodiments may be described; it should beunderstood that these are presented for illustrative purposes only. Thedescribed embodiments are not intended to be limiting in any sense. Oneor more of the inventions may be widely applicable to numerousembodiments, as is readily apparent from the disclosure. In general,embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilledin the art to practice one or more of the inventions, and it is to beunderstood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural,logical, software, electrical and other changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the particular inventions. Accordingly,those skilled in the art will recognize that one or more of theinventions may be practiced with various modifications and alterations.Particular features of one or more of the inventions may be describedwith reference to one or more particular embodiments or figures thatform a part of the present disclosure, and in which are shown, by way ofillustration, specific embodiments of one or more of the inventions. Itshould be understood, however, that such features are not limited tousage in the one or more particular embodiments or figures withreference to which they are described. The present disclosure is neithera literal description of all embodiments of one or more of theinventions nor a listing of features of one or more of the inventionsthat must be present in all embodiments.

Headings of sections provided in this patent application and the titleof this patent application are for convenience only, and are not to betaken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be incontinuous communication with each other, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with eachother may communicate directly or indirectly through one or moreintermediaries, logical or physical.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communicationwith each other does not imply that all such components are required. Tothe contrary, a variety of optional components may be described toillustrate a wide variety of possible embodiments of one or more of theinventions and in order to more fully illustrate one or more aspects ofthe inventions. Similarly, although process steps, method steps,algorithms or the like may be described in a sequential order, suchprocesses, methods and algorithms may generally be configured to work inalternate orders, unless specifically stated to the contrary. In otherwords, any sequence or order of steps that may be described in thispatent application does not, in and of itself, indicate a requirementthat the steps be performed in that order. The steps of describedprocesses may be performed in any order practical. Further, some stepsmay be performed simultaneously despite being described or implied asoccurring sequentially (e.g., because one step is described after theother step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by its depiction ina drawing does not imply that the illustrated process is exclusive ofother variations and modifications thereto, does not imply that theillustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to one or more ofthe invention(s), and does not imply that the illustrated process ispreferred. Also, steps are generally described once per embodiment, butthis does not mean they must occur once, or that they may only occuronce each time a process, method, or algorithm is carried out orexecuted. Some steps may be omitted in some embodiments or someoccurrences, or some steps may be executed more than once in a givenembodiment or occurrence.

When a single device or article is described, it will be readilyapparent that more than one device or article may be used in place of asingle device or article. Similarly, where more than one device orarticle is described, it will be readily apparent that a single deviceor article may be used in place of the more than one device or article.

The functionality or the features of a device may be alternativelyembodied by one or more other devices that are not explicitly describedas having such functionality or features. Thus, other embodiments of oneor more of the inventions need not include the device itself.

Techniques and mechanisms described or referenced herein will sometimesbe described in singular form for clarity. However, it should be notedthat particular embodiments include multiple iterations of a techniqueor multiple manifestations of a mechanism unless noted otherwise.Process descriptions or blocks in figures should be understood asrepresenting modules, segments, or portions of code which include one ormore executable instructions for implementing specific logical functionsor steps in the process. Alternate implementations are included withinthe scope of embodiments of the present invention in which, for example,functions may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed,including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending onthe functionality involved, as would be understood by those havingordinary skill in the art.

Hardware Architecture

Generally, the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented onhardware or a combination of software and hardware. For example, theymay be implemented in an operating system kernel, in a separate userprocess, in a library package bound into network applications, on aspecially constructed machine, on an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), or on a network interface card.

Software/hardware hybrid implementations of at least some of theembodiments disclosed herein may be implemented on a programmablenetwork-resident machine (which should be understood to includeintermittently connected network-aware machines) selectively activatedor reconfigured by a computer program stored in memory. Such networkdevices may have multiple network interfaces that may be configured ordesigned to utilize different types of network communication protocols.A general architecture for some of these machines may be describedherein in order to illustrate one or more exemplary means by which agiven unit of functionality may be implemented. According to specificembodiments, at least some of the features or functionalities of thevarious embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented on one or moregeneral-purpose computers associated with one or more networks, such asfor example an end-user computer system, a client computer, a networkserver or other server system, a mobile computing device (e.g., tabletcomputing device, mobile phone, smartphone, laptop, or other appropriatecomputing device), a consumer electronic device, a music player, or anyother suitable electronic device, router, switch, or other suitabledevice, or any combination thereof. In at least some embodiments, atleast some of the features or functionalities of the various embodimentsdisclosed herein may be implemented in one or more virtualized computingenvironments (e.g., network computing clouds, virtual machines hosted onone or more physical computing machines, or other appropriate virtualenvironments).

Referring now to FIG. 7, there is shown a block diagram depicting anexemplary computing device 10 suitable for implementing at least aportion of the features or functionalities disclosed herein. Computingdevice 10 may be, for example, any one of the computing machines listedin the previous paragraph, or indeed any other electronic device capableof executing software- or hardware-based instructions according to oneor more programs stored in memory. Computing device 10 may be configuredto communicate with a plurality of other computing devices, such asclients or servers, over communications networks such as a wide areanetwork a metropolitan area network, a local area network, a wirelessnetwork, the Internet, or any other network, using known protocols forsuch communication, whether wireless or wired.

In one embodiment, computing device 10 includes one or more centralprocessing units (CPU) 12, one or more interfaces 15, and one or morebusses 14 (such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus). Whenacting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, CPU 12 maybe responsible for implementing specific functions associated with thefunctions of a specifically configured computing device or machine. Forexample, in at least one embodiment, a computing device 10 may beconfigured or designed to function as a server system utilizing CPU 12,local memory 11 and/or remote memory 16, and interface(s) 15. In atleast one embodiment, CPU 12 may be caused to perform one or more of thedifferent types of functions and/or operations under the control ofsoftware modules or components, which for example, may include anoperating system and any appropriate applications software, drivers, andthe like.

CPU 12 may include one or more processors 13 such as, for example, aprocessor from one of the Intel, ARM, Qualcomm, and AMD families ofmicroprocessors. In some embodiments, processors 13 may includespecially designed hardware such as application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories(EEPROMs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and so forth, forcontrolling operations of computing device 10. In a specific embodiment,a local memory 11 (such as non-volatile random access memory (RAM)and/or read-only memory (ROM), including for example one or more levelsof cached memory) may also form part of CPU 12. However, there are manydifferent ways in which memory may be coupled to system 10. Memory 11may be used for a variety of purposes such as, for example, cachingand/or storing data, programming instructions, and the like. It shouldbe further appreciated that CPU 12 may be one of a variety ofsystem-on-a-chip (SOC) type hardware that may include additionalhardware such as memory or graphics processing chips, such as a QualcommSNAPDRAGON™ or Samsung EXYNOS™ CPU as are becoming increasingly commonin the art, such as for use in mobile devices or integrated devices.

As used herein, the term “processor” is not limited merely to thoseintegrated circuits referred to in the art as a processor, a mobileprocessor, or a microprocessor, but broadly refers to a microcontroller,a microcomputer, a programmable logic controller, anapplication-specific integrated circuit, and any other programmablecircuit.

In one embodiment, interfaces 15 are provided as network interface cards(NICs). Generally, NICs control the sending and receiving of datapackets over a computer network; other types of interfaces 15 may forexample support other peripherals used with computing device 10. Amongthe interfaces that may be provided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relayinterfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces,graphics interfaces, and the like. In addition, various types ofinterfaces may be provided such as, for example, universal serial bus(USB), Serial, Ethernet, FIREWIRE™, THUNDERBOLT™, PCI, parallel, radiofrequency (RF), BLUETOOTH™, near-field communications (e.g., usingnear-field magnetics), 802.11 (WiFi), frame relay, TCP/IP, ISDN, fastEthernet interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, Serial ATA (SATA) orexternal SATA (ESATA) interfaces, high-definition multimedia interface(HDMI), digital visual interface (DVI), analog or digital audiointerfaces, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interfaces, high-speedserial interface (HSSI) interfaces, Point of Sale (POS) interfaces,fiber data distributed interfaces (FDDIs), and the like. Generally, suchinterfaces 15 may include physical ports appropriate for communicationwith appropriate media. In some cases, they may also include anindependent processor (such as a dedicated audio or video processor, asis common in the art for high-fidelity A/V hardware interfaces) and, insome instances, volatile and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., RAM).

Although the system shown and described above illustrates one specificarchitecture for a computing device 10 for implementing one or more ofthe inventions described herein, it is by no means the only devicearchitecture on which at least a portion of the features and techniquesdescribed herein may be implemented. For example, architectures havingone or any number of processors 13 may be used, and such processors 13may be present in a single device or distributed among any number ofdevices. In one embodiment, a single processor 13 handles communicationsas well as routing computations, while in other embodiments a separatededicated communications processor may be provided. In variousembodiments, different types of features or functionalities may beimplemented in a system according to the invention that includes aclient device (such as a tablet device or smartphone running clientsoftware) and server systems (such as a server system described in moredetail below).

Regardless of network device configuration, the system of the presentinvention may employ one or more memories or memory modules (such as,for example, remote memory block 16 and local memory 11) configured tostore data, program instructions for the general-purpose networkoperations, or other information relating to the functionality of theembodiments described herein (or any combinations of the above). Programinstructions may control execution of or comprise an operating systemand/or one or more applications, for example. Memory 16 or memories 11,16 may also be configured to store data structures, configuration data,encryption data, historical system operations information, or any otherspecific or generic non-program information described herein.

Because such information and program instructions may be employed toimplement one or more systems or methods described herein, at least somenetwork device embodiments may include nontransitory machine-readablestorage media, which, for example, may be configured or designed tostore program instructions, state information, and the like forperforming various operations described herein. Examples of suchnontransitory machine-readable storage media include, but are notlimited to, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, andmagnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical mediasuch as optical disks, and hardware devices that are speciallyconfigured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-onlymemory devices (ROM), flash memory (as is common in mobile devices andintegrated systems), solid state drives (SSD) and “hybrid SSD” storagedrives that may combine physical components of solid state and hard diskdrives in a single hardware device (as are becoming increasingly commonin the art with regard to personal computers), memristor memory, randomaccess memory (RAM), and the like. It should be appreciated that suchstorage means may be integral and non-removable (such as RAM hardwaremodules that may be soldered onto a motherboard or otherwise integratedinto an electronic device), or they may be removable such as swappableflash memory modules (such as “thumb drives” or other removable mediadesigned for rapidly exchanging physical storage devices),“hot-swappable” hard disk drives or solid state drives, removableoptical storage discs, or other such removable media, and that suchintegral and removable storage media may be utilized interchangeably.Examples of program instructions include both object code, such as maybe produced by a compiler, machine code, such as may be produced by anassembler or a linker, byte code, such as may be generated by forexample a JAVA™ compiler and may be executed using a Java virtualmachine or equivalent, or files containing higher level code that may beexecuted by the computer using an interpreter (for example, scriptswritten in Python, Perl, Ruby, Groovy, or any other scripting language).

In some embodiments, systems according to the present invention may beimplemented on a standalone computing system. Referring now to FIG. 8,there is shown a block diagram depicting a typical exemplaryarchitecture of one or more embodiments or components thereof on astandalone computing system. Computing device 20 includes processors 21that may run software that carry out one or more functions orapplications of embodiments of the invention, such as for example aclient application 24. Processors 21 may carry out computinginstructions under control of an operating system 22 such as, forexample, a version of Microsoft's WINDOWS™ operating system, Apple's MacOS/X or iOS operating systems, some variety of the Linux operatingsystem, Google's ANDROID™ operating system, or the like. In many cases,one or more shared services 23 may be operable in system 20, and may beuseful for providing common services to client applications 24. Services23 may for example be WINDOWS™ services, user-space common services in aLinux environment, or any other type of common service architecture usedwith operating system 21. Input devices 28 may be of any type suitablefor receiving user input, including for example a keyboard, touchscreen,microphone (for example, for voice input), mouse, touchpad, trackball,or any combination thereof. Output devices 27 may be of any typesuitable for providing output to one or more users, whether remote orlocal to system 20, and may include for example one or more screens forvisual output, speakers, printers, or any combination thereof. Memory 25may be random-access memory having any structure and architecture knownin the art, for use by processors 21, for example to run software.Storage devices 26 may be any magnetic, optical, mechanical, memristor,or electrical storage device for storage of data in digital form (suchas those described above). Examples of storage devices 26 include flashmemory, magnetic hard drive, CD-ROM, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, systems of the present invention may be implementedon a distributed computing network, such as one having any number ofclients and/or servers. Referring now to FIG. 9, there is shown a blockdiagram depicting an exemplary architecture 30 for implementing at leasta portion of a system according to an embodiment of the invention on adistributed computing network. According to the embodiment, any numberof clients 33 may be provided. Each client 33 may run software forimplementing client-side portions of the present invention; clients maycomprise a system 20 such as that illustrated above. In addition, anynumber of servers 32 may be provided for handling requests received fromone or more clients 33. Clients 33 and servers 32 may communicate withone another via one or more electronic networks 31, which may be invarious embodiments any of the Internet, a wide area network, a mobiletelephony network (such as CDMA or GSM cellular networks), a wirelessnetwork (such as WiFi, Wimax, LTE, and so forth), or a local areanetwork (or indeed any network topology known in the art; the inventiondoes not prefer any one network topology over any other). Networks 31may be implemented using any known network protocols, including forexample wired and/or wireless protocols.

In addition, in some embodiments, servers 32 may call external services37 when needed to obtain additional information, or to refer toadditional data concerning a particular call. Communications withexternal services 37 may take place, for example, via one or morenetworks 31. In various embodiments, external services 37 may compriseweb-enabled services or functionality related to or installed on thehardware device itself. For example, in an embodiment where clientapplications 24 are implemented on a smartphone or other electronicdevice, client applications 24 may obtain information stored in a serversystem 32 in the cloud or on an external service 37 deployed on one ormore of a particular enterprise's or user's premises.

In some embodiments of the invention, clients 33 or servers 32 (or both)may make use of one or more specialized services or appliances that maybe deployed locally or remotely across one or more networks 31. Forexample, one or more databases 34 may be used or referred to by one ormore embodiments of the invention. It should be understood by one havingordinary skill in the art that databases 34 may be arranged in a widevariety of architectures and using a wide variety of data access andmanipulation means. For example, in various embodiments one or moredatabases 34 may comprise a relational database system using astructured query language (SQL), while others may comprise analternative data storage technology such as those referred to in the artas “NoSQL” (for example, Hadoop Cassandra, Google BigTable, and soforth). In some embodiments, variant database architectures such ascolumn-oriented databases, in-memory databases, clustered databases,distributed databases, or even flat file data repositories may be usedaccording to the invention. It will be appreciated by one havingordinary skill in the art that any combination of known or futuredatabase technologies may be used as appropriate, unless a specificdatabase technology or a specific arrangement of components is specifiedfor a particular embodiment herein. Moreover, it should be appreciatedthat the term “database” as used herein may refer to a physical databasemachine, a cluster of machines acting as a single database system, or alogical database within an overall database management system. Unless aspecific meaning is specified for a given use of the term “database”, itshould be construed to mean any of these senses of the word, all ofwhich are understood as a plain meaning of the term “database” by thosehaving ordinary skill in the art.

Similarly, most embodiments of the invention may make use of one or moresecurity systems 36 and configuration systems 35. Security andconfiguration management are common information technology (IT) and webfunctions, and some amount of each are generally associated with any ITor web systems. It should be understood by one having ordinary skill inthe art that any configuration or security subsystems known in the artnow or in the future may be used in conjunction with embodiments of theinvention without limitation, unless a specific security 36 orconfiguration system 35 or approach is specifically required by thedescription of any specific embodiment.

In various embodiments, functionality for implementing systems ormethods of the present invention may be distributed among any number ofclient and/or server components. For example, various software modulesmay be implemented for performing various functions in connection withthe present invention, and such modules may be variously implemented torun on server and/or client components.

Conceptual Architecture

FIG. 1 shows a computer system 100, as currently may be typically usedas a generic computing device for an end user device, both stationaryand or portable, or a server. Computer system 100 is exemplary of anycomputer that may execute code to process data. Various modificationsand changes may be made to computer system 100 without departing fromthe broader spirit and scope of the system and method disclosed herein.CPU 101 is connected to bus 102, to which bus is also connected tomemory 103, nonvolatile memory 104, display 107, I/O unit 108, andnetwork interface card (NIC) 113. I/O unit 108 may, typically, beconnected to an input device 109, such as a keyboard, a touch screen,buttons, etc., mouse or any other suitable graphical input device 110,hard disk (or in some cases other suitable storage, including, but notlimited to solid state disk, RAID, network attached storage, storagearea network, etc.) 112, one or more cameras 117 a-n, and real-timeclock 111. One or more network cards/interfaces 113 a-n, some of whichmay be wireless 114, may connect to WANs 115 or wireless LANs 116, allof which are connected via Internet 118. Also shown as part of system100 is power supply unit 105 connected, in this example, to ac supply106. Not shown are batteries that could be present, and many otherdevices, including but not limited to special enhanced pointing ornavigational devices, such as mice, jog wheels, etc., microphone(s) andspeaker(s) and/or headset(s) for recording and or playing back audio,and other modifications that are well known but are not applicable tothe specific enhanced functions of the current system and methoddisclosed herein.

FIG. 2 shows an overview of an exemplary system embodiment 200, depictedas a set of network connected devices interacting with a consumer device242 engineered to interact with the invention. The one or more wirelessnetworks and the internet 114 are configured, for the purposes of thesystem and method disclosed herein, as one conglomerate network, eventhough it is clear that multiple carriers and other wireless LANs may beoffered. An operating center has a service control module 220 that isconnected mass storage 221 and programmed devices 222 a-n that are usedto provide the service of the system and method disclosed herein, whichservice is described later and throughout. Note that service controlmodule 220 operates on hardware with a structure similar to the computerdiscussed in FIG. 1. Control modules 233 a-n, connected to supporthardware at participating partners as well as user devices 242 at thosepartners' locations are connected to the Internet via connections 230a-n. Each control module 233 a-n or client device 242 is connected toits own web service system 231 a-n (in some cases, they may have theirown web infrastructure; in other cases, the individual components 231a-n, 232 a-n, 233 a-n each could be distributed across different devicesto better handle peak loads of large resource requests). Servers 231 a-nmay have a structure similar to the computer discussed in FIG. 1. Eachweb service system 231 a-n (whether real or distributed) has its ownstorage pool 232 a-n and its own sets of specially optimized software232 aa-an through 232 na-nnn. Also shown is a user carried device 210,that device could be a smart phone a tablet or a smart watch all ofwhich possess a structure similar to the computing device discussed inFIG. 1. Device 210 contains, in this example, software 214 a-n, a camera211, and in some cases a GPS 215 chip that communicates with GPSsatellites 250 a-n. Software 214 x may be machine-readable code that isstored on a storage media, or downloadable over a network connection,and installed on a mobile computing device 210. The user in the field,for example at his home, at his office, in a testing lab, or anywhereelse uses device 210 to interact with the servers delivering the contentas a web service, typically using one or more of the message controllersand servers described herein. The user clicks on an interface icon toactivate the capabilities disclosed herein 213 and contained on device210 and follows the instructions that appear on the screen, thus pullingup additional data from the service controller as discussed furtherherein. Further, it shall be deemed equivalent if, for example, insteadof so-called on premise servers and or cloud services, a third-party isused for hosting the server side services described 230 a-n, 231 a-n,232 a-n, 233 a-n.

The system and method disclosed herein can create messagingconversations that send text, pictures, video and other media and canembed application programs in the conversation within a messagingsession. The messaging device, running an industry-standard messaginginfrastructure such as XMPP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMPP) or Layer(https://layer.com), an identity management solution to identify usersand enable the routing of messages to the correct users, along with aserver-side infrastructure that manages, secures, and delivers selectedinline interactive objects (IIO) to members of the conversation. Inaddition, server-side support 230 a-n, 231 a-n, 232 a-n, 233 a-n in theform of IIO object management, service support, and related tasks isavailable to support the execution of the in-message interface objectsfor each user's client device 242.

While the system of the invention duplicates to some degree thefunctions of typical messaging applications and infrastructures such asApple's iMessage and Facebook's WhatsApp with provided messagingexperiences that have been available in related forms for more than tenyears, the invention then adds the unique ability to inject IIOs intothe conversation's messages that are connected and running on the clientdevices of other participants of that conversation so that they cancontinue their dialog while seamlessly interacting with additionalapplications that augment the interaction. This ability to inject IIOsinto the conversation enables participants to have a side-by-sideconversation while sharing the operation and control of contributoryapplications, in essence providing a digital application-centricconversation. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in theart that “message” and “messaging application” may refer to “instantmessage” and “instant messaging application”, as are well known in theart, but they are not so limited. In general, any electronic messagesystem capable of software-based control may be used according to theinvention, including for example short message system (SMS), multimediamessage system (MMS), text chat and chat relay systems, and the like.

Each inline interactive object has significant capability and resourcesoutside the scope of a typical stand-alone application. Thesecharacteristics include, but are not limited to, the ability to utilizethe knowledge about the members of the conversation to achieve variousgoals. Examples of such goals, listed in no particular order, includethe ability to interact with other users in the context of theconversation; to interact with other inline interactive objects withinthe message; to interact with inline interactive objects external to themessage; to interact with internal and external services and devices topotentially extract information such as user and conversation partneridentity from external sources such as, for example, in human resourcesmanagement solutions, if granted access by employer, Facebook, to theextent granted, and LinkedIn to the extent granted; to access respectiveuser and conversation partner calendars, to the extent of grantedaccess; to access and use member location data, if access is granted; toaccess and use data expressed in the conversation's text and mediaobjects; to use knowledge of beacons local to the members of theconversation; to send data and signals between in-conversation, outsideconversation, and remote inline interactive objects; to send data andsignals between inline interactive objects and external devices andservices that comprise the Internet of Things (IoT); to send data andsignals between inline interactive objects and members of theconversation as well as to selected non-members of the conversation viaemail, SMS text, and other digital means; to operate in thecomputational foreground, visible to the user as well as operate in thebackground, invisible to the user and/or in the conversation; to bepurchased and downloaded from an on-line store and sold to users viain-app digital payment, on a one-time charge basis, or on a subscriptionbasis; to support a permission model where each widget is grantedpermission by each participant in a conversation to access informationfor each of the participants' devices and personal data; to be presentedto the user as collections of related inline interactive objects via aninteractive hierarchal form that is dynamically loaded on the mobile orfixed device 242; to be listed on a menu, palette, or similar visualselection object, and inserted into a conversation by a user making aninteractive selection from a palette which can be changed both with andwithout an update to the messaging application; and to be viewed in-linechronologically with other components of the conversation and in summaryform, where only the inline interactive objects in the conversation arevisible.

In some cases, a system and method for delivering text, media, andinline interactive objects in a message and displaying them to a clientmessaging device 242, may comprise a messaging service andinfrastructure that reliably and securely transports text, media, andIIOs along with an optional proprietary electronic certificate to ensurethat the delivered elements have been sent from an authorized source.The system may send message content, including text, media, and IIOs,from the message controller 233 a-n via the Internet 214 to themessaging device 242, which may be web based or run directly on a mobileof fixed device, configured to interact with a user based on that user'sunique identifier. Further, message content may be stored on a messagecontroller 233 a-n, for delivery to the client's message device 242 ondemand. In addition, the needed programming changes to enable themessage device 242 may be received from a message controller 233 a-n.The client's messaging device may also upload a to a server fordistribution to other parties and/or processing by external programs orvia server side extensions of the message content. Additionally, acontrol center may be connected to the network and configured to receivedata from the messaging program and to track the delivery of the messagecontent.

Further, in some cases, along with the message an inline interactiveobjects program code is provided, and in some of those cases, providingthose IIO programs includes downloading additional IIOs from a server toa client message device. Additionally, in some of these cases, a portionor all of the IIO code includes code that executes on a server thathosts or interacts with the remote IIO code. Furthermore, in some casespart or all of the selected message content is used as additionalinformation for processing by the target IIOs from another computer. Inyet other cases, the method for processing a message might includeselecting the target IIO and executing the code on the targeted IIO. Insome cases, the messaging program may also upload a message to a serverfor distribution to other parties and/or for processing by externalprograms or via server side extensions of the message content whilemonitoring the delivery of the target message content. Furthermore, amethod may deliver IIOs to a mobile or fixed device, including the stepsof providing IIO program code to the messaging device that can interactwith the user in the context of an ongoing conversation, interact withother IIOs within the message, interact with IIOs external to themessage, as well as possibly interacting with internal and externalservices and devices. Additionally, in some of these cases, the IIOcould be further applied operating in the context of the conversationutilizing multiple classes of contextual information. In yet furtherexamples of possible use cases, an IIO operating in the context of theconversation may also be executed utilizing the identities of those inthe conversation to supply the context. In yet other cases, the IIOsoperating in the context of the conversation may also be executedutilizing the identities of those in the conversation to extractinformation from external sources, such as identity management solutionsand external data sources such as Facebook and LinkedIn. In yet othercases, the IIOs are operated in the context of the conversationutilizing the identities of those in the conversation and theirrespective calendars. Additionally, the IIOs may be operated in thecontext of the conversation utilizing the identities of those in theconversation and their location data. Further, in some use cases, theIIOs may be executed in the context of the conversation utilizing theidentities of those in the conversation and the data expressed inconversation text and media objects. Furthermore, the IIOs run in thecontext of the conversation utilizing the identities of those in theconversation and beacons local to the members of the conversation. Insome cases, the IIOs may send data and signals between IIOs tofacilitate their interaction and operation. Additionally, in some usecases the IIOs could send data and signals between IIOs external to amessage set to facilitate their interaction and operation. In yet othercases, the IIOs send data and signals between IIOs and internal deviceservices to facilitate their interaction and operation. Further, theIIOs can send data and signals between IIOs and external services tofacilitate the interaction and operation between the IIOs and thoseexternal services. Furthermore, in some cases, the IIOs can send dataand signals between IIOs interacting with external devices and servicesthat comprise the “Internet of Things” to facilitate their interactionand operation. Further, in some cases, the IIOs are able to send dataand signals between IIOs and members of the conversation as well as toselected non-members of the conversation via email, SMS text, and otherdigital means. In many cases, the IIOs can operate in the computationalforeground and be visible to the user but may also operate in thebackground, invisible to the user and/or in the conversation. Further,in some cases, the IIOs will operate dependent on input from users andother sources whereas in other conditions they may act independentlyfrom users or other input. In other cases, IIOs and collections of IIOsmight be purchased and downloaded from an on-line store. In some ofthese cases, such sale to users can occur using in-app digital payment,on a one-time charge basis, or on a subscription basis, or similar,equivalent approaches. Further, in many contingencies, the IIOs includea permission model where each widget is granted permission by eachparticipant in a conversation to access information for each of theparticipants' devices and personal data. Furthermore, in some cases, thesystem includes delivering programmatic message content in the form of aIIOs to a mobile, wearable, or fixed device, such cases includepresenting IIOs and collections of IIOs via an interactive hierarchalform that is dynamically loaded on the mobile or fixed device. In somecases, further, the IIOs and collections of IIOs can be listed on amenu, palette, or similar visual selection object, and inserted into aconversation by a user making an interactive selection from a palette.In yet some additional cases, a list of IIOs and collections of IIOs canbe changed both with and without an update to the messaging applicationwhere the collections of IIOs listed as well as the IIOs are dynamicallyloaded from the server and optionally cached locally on the targetdevice. Further, in yet other cases, the IIOs that have been insertedinto a conversation can be viewed in-line chronologically with othercomponents of the conversation and in summary form, where only the IIOsin the conversation are visible. In yet other cases, the IIOs can beprivate to the conversation or public and shared via a URL or othernetworked mechanism, such as being viewable in a web browser or viaother client application. Further, in some cases, the system is coupledto a control center connected to the network and configured to receivedata from the messaging program, wherein the control center is furtherconfigured to track the delivery of the content item to the mobile orfixed device.

FIG. 3 shows an overview of the architecture of an exemplary system 300,according to the system and method disclosed herein. Devices 316 and 314are, in this example, smart phones, while a third device 313 is anotebook computer. For purposes of this approach, any type of computingdevice, including but not limited to a kiosk, tablet, desktop computer,built-in appliance computer, etc. may be used. Identity services server302 uses data from identity repository 320 to verify users when theywant to create a new message or start a new conversation. Device 316 cansend a message through Internet 315 via transmission means 301 and 303to identity server 302 and can receive in return a token that certifiesthe device is entitled to send a message. Device 316 then may send amessage through Internet 315 via transmission means 304 to messagingserver 305. Attachments and content are sent via transmission means 307and 311, respectively, to inline interactive object (IIO) store server308 and to IIO app server 312.

An IIO may be represented in a message log in several ways, such as, forexample, as a task shown at the time it is introduced; at the front of aconversation with a reference back to the time of introduction; or as asequence of milestones appearing in multiple places in a conversation,corresponding to changes and refinements. It can also appear as anapplication completely external to the messaging application. Eachserver has its own data repository 309 and 321, respectively, forstorage of objects and of apps and data, respectively. When therecipient receives a message his device downloads the message viatransmission means 306 and then request that the content be downloadedvia transmission means 310 and 311. To protect against the introductionof malware into the recipient's system, only certified content may bedownloaded. It is clear that many variations of the details of thisarchitecture may be implemented. For example, instead of using separatephysical servers in separate locations, any or all servers may bevirtual servers, or servers may be co-located, or they may all run onthe same physical machine, or their functions may be allotted amongmultiple servers to accommodate high traffic.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary screen 400 of a smartphone engaged in aconversation, according to one aspect of the system and method disclosedherein. Displayed on the screen are outbound message 403, inboundmessage 401, and received object 402. A command means, such as, forexample, a Play button, is presented on top of the image, in similarfashion as many websites present videos. Depending on the type ofattachment, it may either launch an application that can play thecontent, or it may launch a built-in player to play the content.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary screen 500 of a smartphone displaying a dateobject, according to one aspect of the system and method disclosedherein. The user is preparing outbound message 502, with touch-screenoptions to select the date and time, or to select a calendar match ifthe calendars of the sender and receiver are linked. Thus the objectsent can be linked to the sender's calendar, so when the recipientclicks “find next match,” the system can access the sender's calendar,compare it to the recipient's calendar, and propose one or moreavailable time slots. In some cases, the process of completion may beinterwoven with the discussion in plain chat messages. This milestoneview could function as a rollback mechanism, similar to implementationsin Wiki systems. For example, open editing of IIOs among mutuallytrusting individuals in a group can be much easier to administer thanthe usual permissions-based approach used in computer security.Intermixing IIOs with conventional messaging also enables the messagelog to serve other purposes beyond providing a record of communication.Intermixed IIOs can describe media presentations (similar to atheatrical script), or describe a plan and/or a process, as well as apedagogical sequence or recipe.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary process 600 for implementation of the systemaccording to one aspect of the system and method disclosed herein. Instep 601, the user selects an inline interactive object (IIO), which maybe any of various, including, but not limited to, for example, acalendar matching app as shown in FIG. 5, sharing to-do lists,delivering shopping lists, exchanging locations in real-time, doingopinion polls, distributing invitations (including integration withcommercial services such as EventBrite, MeetUp, and others), buyingmovie tickets (including integration with commercial services such asFandango), making reservations (including integration with commercialservices such as OpenTable), meeting planning, meeting notes, corporateapprovals, monitoring Wearables (personal trainer applications thatintegrate in local information and data from third-party IoT productssuch as FitBit), sending and/or purchasing a product (includingintegration with commercial services such as Amazon), transferring cashbetween parties in the conversation (including integration withcommercial services such as PayPal to facilitate the transfer), sharingand viewing media together, and playing turn-based and interactivegames. In step 602, the IIO store server 308 sends the IIO program codeto the client device, and in step 603, the IIO store server 308 sends acertificate for the selected IIO. In step 604, the client devicevalidates the certificate for the IIO with the identity services server302, and in step 605, the client device executes the IIO initializationand notifies the server to start IIO services. In step 606, themessaging fabric server 305 notifies other members of the conversationto download and initialize and interaction. In step 607, other clientsdownload the IIO, initialize, and connect to the server to join IIOservices. In step 608, all IIOs on all clients begin interactions andsynchronization. In step 609, the IIO is stopped by the sender or theconversation is deleted. In step 610, the server archives the IIIO dataif required, and in step 611, the IIO store server 308 destroys the IIOinstance that is on the server.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented incomputer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof.Methods of the present disclosure can be implemented via a computerprogram instructions stored on one or more specifically designednon-transitory computer-readable storage devices for execution by aprocessor. Likewise, various processes (or portions thereof) of thepresent disclosure can be performed by a processor executing computerprogram instructions. Embodiments of the present disclosure may beimplemented via one or more computer programs that are executable on acomputer system including at least one processor coupled to receive dataand instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a datastorage system, at least one input device, and at least one outputdevice. Each computer program can be implemented in any suitable manner,including via a high-level procedural or object-oriented programminglanguage and/or via assembly or machine language. Systems of the presentdisclosure may include, by way of example, both general and specialpurpose microprocessors, which may retrieve instructions and data to andfrom various types of volatile and/or non-volatile memory. Computersystems operating in conjunction with the embodiments of the presentdisclosure may include one or more mass storage devices for storing datafiles, which may include: magnetic disks, such as internal hard disksand removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and optical disks. Storagedevices suitable for tangibly embodying computer program instructionsand data (also called the “non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia”) include all forms of non-volatile memory, including by way ofexample semiconductor memory devices, such as EPROM, EEPROM, and flashmemory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removabledisks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM disks. Any of the foregoing canbe supplemented by, or incorporated in, ASICs (application-specificintegrated circuits) and other forms of hardware.

In one embodiment, an IIO may represent standard transactions betweenparties, such as an order for a product, the terms of a contract, etc.As a standard process for mutual communication, an IIO may be used toenable parties to interact across language and cultural barriers, forexample, by offering both English and Chinese interface presentations.Also, a formal process of conducting group business, such as Robert'sRules of Order can be reified as IIOs that represent reports, motions,votes, and so on, so that parliamentary business can proceed without areal-time, single-location meeting of the polity. IIOs can likewiserepresent steps in legal proceedings. Additionally, IIO progress andchat traffic involving one or more conversations may be plotted inseveral time-line forms, so that a user can reconstruct his activitiesand relate separate flows of communication together. In furtherembodiments, a system for recording conversations that includes IIOsenables programming by example. For example, a conversation log can beedited to create a standard narrative description of a process that maybe applied to a new situation.

In some cases, a system and method for delivering text, media, andinline interactive objects in a message and displaying them by amessaging program to a device such as, for example, a mobile phone, maycomprise a messaging service and fabric that reliably and securelytransports text, media, and IIOs along with an optional proprietaryelectronic certificate to ensure that the delivered elements have beensent from an authorized source. The system may send message content,including text, media, and IIOs, via the Internet to the messagingprogram, which may be a web application or a compiled mobile or desktopapplication, configured to interact with the user based on the user'sidentifier. Further, message content may be stored on a server, fordelivery to the message program on demand and thence to the clientdevice. In addition, the message program may be received from a server.The messaging program may also upload a message to a server fordistribution to other parties and/or processing by external programs orvia server side extensions of the message content. Additionally, acontrol center may be connected to the network and configured to receivedata from the messaging program and to track the delivery of the messagecontent.

Further, in some cases, along with the message an inline interactiveobjects program code is provided, and in some cases providing those IIOprograms includes downloading additional IIOs from a server to a messagedelivery program. Additionally, in some of these cases, a portion or allof the IIO code includes executing code in a server that hosts orinteracts with the remote IIO code. Furthermore, in some cases part orall of the selected message content is used for additional informationfor processing by the selected IIOs from another computer. In yet othercases, the method for processing a message includes selecting theselected IIO and executing the code on the selected IIO. In some cases,the messaging program may also upload a message to a server fordistribution to other parties and/or processing by external programs orvia server side extensions of the message content while monitoring thedelivery of the selected message content. Furthermore, a method deliversIIOs to a mobile or fixed device, including the steps of providing IIOprogram code to the messaging program that can interact with the user inthe context of the conversation, other IIOs within the message, IIOsexternal to the message, as well as internal and external services anddevices. Additionally, in some of these cases, the IIO is furtherapplied operating in the context of the conversation utilizing multipleclasses of contextual information. In yet further of these cases, theIIO operating in the context of the conversation is applied utilizingthe identities of those in the conversation to supply the context. Inyet other cases, the IIOs operating in the context of the conversationare also applied utilizing the identities of those in the conversationto extract information from external sources, such as identitymanagement solutions and external data sources such as Facebook andLinkedIn. In yet other cases, the IIOs are operated in the context ofthe conversation utilizing the identities of those in the conversationand their respective calendars. Additionally, the IIOs are operated inthe context of the conversation utilizing the identities of those in theconversation and their location data. Further, the IIOs are operated inthe context of the conversation utilizing the identities of those in theconversation and the data expressed in conversation text and mediaobjects. Furthermore, the IIOs run in the context of the conversationutilizing the identities of those in the conversation and beacons localto the members of the conversation. In some cases, the IIOs send dataand signals between IIOs to facilitate their interaction and operation.In yet other cases, the IIOs send data and signals between IIOs within amessage to facilitate their interaction and operation. Additionally, insome cases the IIOs send data and signals between IIOs external to amessage to facilitate their interaction and operation. In yet othercases, the IIOs send data and signals between IIOs and internal deviceservices to facilitate their interaction and operation. Further, theIIOs send data and signals between IIOs and external services tofacilitate their interaction and operation. Furthermore, in some cases,the IIOs send data and signals between IIOs by and for as well asincluding external devices and services that comprise the “Internet ofThings” to facilitate their interaction and operation. Further, in somecases, the IIOs send data and signals between IIOs and members of theconversation as well as to selected non-members of the conversation viaemail, SMS text, and other digital means. In other cases, the IIOs canoperate in the computational foreground and be visible to the user aswell as operate in the background, invisible to the user and/or in theconversation. Further, in some cases, the IIOs operate dependent oninput from users and other sources as well as independently from usersor other input. In other cases, the IIOs and collections of IIOs arepurchased and downloaded from an on-line store, In some of these cases,such sale to users can occur using in-app digital payment, on a one-timecharge basis, or on a subscription basis, or similar, equivalentapproaches. Further, in some cases, the IIOs support a permission modelwhere each widget is granted permission by each participant in aconversation to access information for each of the participants' devicesand personal data. Furthermore, in some cases, the system includesdelivering programmatic message content in the form of a IIOs to amobile or fixed device, such cases include presenting IIOs andcollections of IIOs via an interactive hierarchal form that isdynamically loaded on the mobile or fixed device. In some cases,further, the IIOs and collections of IIOs can be listed on a menu,palette, or similar visual selection object, and inserted into aconversation by a user making an interactive selection from a palette.In yet some additional cases, a list of IIOs and collections of IIOs canbe changed both with and without an update to the messaging applicationwhere the collections of IIOs listed as well as the IIOs are dynamicallyloaded from the server and optionally cached locally on the targetdevice. Further, in yet other cases, the IIOs that have been insertedinto a conversation can be viewed in-line chronologically with othercomponents of the conversation and in summary form, where only the IIOsin the conversation are visible. In yet other cases, the IIOs can beprivate to the conversation or public and shared via a URL or othernetworked mechanism, such as being viewable in a web browser or viaother client application. Further, in some cases, the system is coupledto a control center connected to the network and configured to receivedata from the messaging program, wherein the control center is furtherconfigured to track the delivery of the content item to the mobile orfixed device.

The skilled person will be aware of a range of possible modifications ofthe various embodiments described above. Accordingly, the presentinvention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for delivery of text, media and inlineinteractive objects encapsulated in a message, the system comprising: amessage server stored in a memory of and operating on a processor of acomputing device; an inline interaction object repository stored in amemory of and operating on a processor of a computing device; and aplurality of message delivery devices stored in memories of andoperating on processors of at least two computing devices; wherein, themessage server: (a) serves as a hub through which a plurality ofmessages pass; (b) receives messages at least one of which will containcontent requiring the use of an inline interactive object to display ormanipulate; (c) determines from a target message delivery device whetherthat target device has inline interactive objects needed to render andmanipulate inline objects included in an incoming message; and (d)offers a method to procure any needed inline interactive objects torender or manipulate inline data encapsulated within the incomingmessage; wherein, the inline interaction object repository: (e)maintains copies of inline interactive objects available for download;wherein, the message delivery devices: (f) accept messages some of whichmay have encapsulated interactive data; (g) run inline interactiveobject resources needed to render and manipulate encapsulated contentwithin a message; (h) allows user to initiate a new message conversationwith other users using an identification for that other user.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the message server coordinates the sharingand data integrity of at least one inline interaction data objectmanipulated by inline interaction objects during the course of a messageconversation.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one messagedelivery device will be the result of running compiled programming codeon a generalized computing device.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein atleast one message delivery device will be the result of running a webapplication within a browser on a generalized computing device.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein at least one message conversation participantsends a predetermined security token to the message server toauthenticate the participant's identity.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein in at least one case the inline interactive object repositoryand the message server reside on the same computing device.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein in at least one inline interactive objectrepository is provided by a third party and that third party offersinline interactive objects of their design from that resource.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein at least one inline interactive object isoffered on for purchase or a subscription to use basis.
 9. A method fordelivery of text, media and inline interactive objects encapsulated in amessage the steps of the method comprising: (a) receiving a message at amessage server containing additional inline media and data that requiresthe use of inline interactive programming objects to render andmanipulate; (b) confirming that a first message delivery device about toreceive the message has required to render and manipulate the additionalinline media and data, if not sending an alert offering to assist inprocurement of needed inline interactive programming objects; and (c)allowing the first message delivery device to enter an interactiveconversation with one or more second message delivery devices tointeract as a group with the additional inline media and data whileconcurrently communicating with additional messages, some of whichencapsulate novel additional inline media and data.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the message server coordinates the sharing and dataintegrity of at least one inline interaction data object manipulated byinline interaction objects during the course of a message conversation.11. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one message delivery devicewill be the result of running compiled programming code on a generalizedcomputing device.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein at least onemessage delivery device will be the result of running a web applicationwithin a browser on a generalized computing device.
 13. The method ofclaim 9, wherein at least one message conversation participant sends apredetermined security token to the message server to authenticate theparticipant's identity.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein in at leastone case the inline interactive object repository and the message serverreside on the same computing device.
 15. The method of claim 9, whereinin at least one inline interactive object repository is provided by athird party and that third party offers inline interactive objects oftheir design from that resource.
 16. The method of claim 9, wherein atleast one inline interactive object is offered on for purchase or asubscription to use basis.